Bioinformatics implies a multidisciplinary field that seeks to analyze and manage vast quantities of biological, molecular and genetic data through computer technology. Personalized Medicine is an emerging field that uses an individual’s genetic profile to aid in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases.

Created in 2015 and led by Dr. Kathleen Barnes, the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine’s (CCPM) mission is to integrate bioinformatics and personalized medicine using patient health record information and “big” data with genetic information to develop personally tailored treatments and cures for different illnesses and diseases. This will be done by combining cutting edge biomedical technology with large-scale computing and the latest in genetic sequencing technology.

Discoveries like these have the potential to improve treatment for complex diseases, as well as to help identify and screen high-risk populations. But personalized medicine also aims higher, at understanding how and why genes cause disease – and why, sometimes, they don't.​​